ADDENDUM

By Bill GoldBy Bill GoldAugust 8, 1978

Donald Adams has also raised an issue relating to foreign exchange. He questions a portion of a recent story from Moscow.

It said in part: ". . . to impose fines of 50 rubles ($85) for failure to meet the deadline for retractions. Under Soviet statutes, Almazov can set a new deadline and keep imposing fines on the two journalists up to a total of 300 rubles ($430)."

The numbers were obviously garbled somewhere between the cable office in Moscow and the printed page. In the first reference, we indicated that a ruble is worth $1.70. In the second we had it at a fraction over $1.43.

Several editors noticed the discrepancy as soon as our first edition came off the presses that night, and later in the press run the item was corrected to read: ". . . 50 rubles $72.4)" and ". . . 300 rubles ($435)."

Incidentally, domestic advertisements can sometimes be as puzzling as foreign exchange values. A local drug chain is now offering sale prices on Tylenol extra-strength capsules. Two bottles containing nine capsules each sell for 26 cents. Two bottles of 100 each are $4.49.

So in small amounts, the capsules are 1.44 cents each; in the large "economy" package, the capsules are 56 percent more costly, or 2.245 cents each. Even a Bonn laundry wouldn't use that kind of pricing.